Kalpana Balakrishnan, PhD
Director, World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Occupational Environmental Health
Professor, SRU-ICMR Centre for Advanced Research on Air Quality, Climate and Health, Sri Ramachandra Institute for Higher Education and Research, Chennai
Dr. Kalpana Balakrishnan obtained her undergraduate degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, and subsequently her doctoral and post-doctoral training at the Johns Hopkins University, USA.
She is a leading global environmental health scientist in India, spearheading research and academic efforts in the areas of health effects of air pollution and chemical risk assessment. Her primary scientific contributions are centered on (i) developing novel exposure assessment approaches to characterize the complex exposures experienced by rural and urban populations in LMICs and (ii) designing and conducting strategic epidemiological investigations in India to catalyze policy level actions by leveraging across the national and global pools of evidence.
She has contributed to several national and international technical assessments concerned with air quality including the Global Burden of Disease and Comparative Risk Assessments, The IARC Monographs, The Global Energy Assessments, The World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines and India State level Burden of Disease Initiative. She is also a Fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences, India.
She currently serves as member of the National Steering Committee on Air Pollution Related Issues for Health Effects for the Ministry of Health Govt. of India and the Indian Council for Medical Research led National Task Force for assessment of impact of initiatives to promote clean household energy.